I make things

Month: May 2017

EVALUATION

I would like to say that I am very proud of us, for finishing this project on time (actually about 3 hours before deadline) and for achieving our goal. Animation looks like we wanted and it really is a great feeling. We have received an email from BYG Systems, they said that they are pleased with our animation (and we are going to see them on Tuesday YAY)

Comparing our animation with the storyboard or animatic you can see that we were well organised and we really did try to follow the plan, the only new part we added was the Matrix “letter” transition it was because the scenes before and after were animated by two different persons and the transition between them weren’t smooth enough, also we thought it makes the Matrix gag stronger. Hopefully looking through our blogs you will be able to tell that we tried hard to follow all the suggestions we got given in order to achieve the best result.

There really isn’t much bad I can tell about our final product. I find all sounds great, editing made by Aaron (with our little help) has great timing and the speed of animation is just right, nothing drags which is great.

We always tried to be on time with everything, even though we didn’t meet BYG’s expectations with the conference call we worked hard to get back on the track. We made sure to stay in close contact with them.

Group work as probably always could be better but we are all still learning soo it was great anyway (just look at the video xD). We managed our roles well, and everyone made sure to do their job right.

Next time we should try to manage our time even better so we could end final to the company early enough to be able to apply any changes if there will be some.

DONE!

SOUNDS & GROUP WORK

Sound

Our narrator will be Aarons partner who’s voice is just perfect for this type of video (we are so lucky really!) other sound we will get from https://www.freesound.org/ , we will also make sure to choose the ones without copyrights.

Group Work

To simplify our group work we created a group page on the facebook as well as a group chat and a folder on the dropbox. This way it is really easy to communicate and access files.

I am also quite happy with the way our group works. Of course we had some hard moments but we managed to solve them. The most important thing is that everyone is committed to produce the best product we are capable of.

LAST PROGRESS UPDATE

We are nearly finished with our animation just 2 scenes to finish and a few touch ups also BYG suggested that we should speed the pace up and make sure everything has good timing

In the Kung fu part, the perspective change of the red and left grey character(not finished in this animatic) had to be made in Adobe illustrator frame by frame. I have to say it was a little bit challenging, especially the grey one (which I expected to be easier).

CLOSE TO THE END PROGRESS & OTHER STUFF

While me and Aaron were working on some changes to the environment of the scenes Maria was creating a rig with Duik plug for After Effects.

I must say that this rig wasn’t a dream tool to animate what we needed but we managed and it doesn’t look that bad (I think)

I forgotten to mention before:

Designs

We designed our characters and environment in Adobe Illustrator. We chose it because BYG System’s logo we received was made in it and it is also good in cooperation with After Effects. Vector graphic is generally simple and easy, therefore it seemed to be the best choice.

Character Designs

Changes we made to character seem to be a really good choice. Our characters look cute but not too much, they definitely seem alive, 3 dimensional and more friendly (we made limb shorter and thicker, added white to the eyes and glimpse in them, also they are more simplified no and don’t have assigned sex).

Progress

Sorry for the bad quality but I had troubles with internet and i recorded it with my phone just to update my group on the progress.

CONFERENCE CALL WITH BYG

Today we had conference call with BYG on our current progress.

Unfortunately they were concerned with the low amount of animation we had to show, but we explained why (we had troubles with rigging the characters), of course we weren’t trying to excuse ourselves. It is our fault, we just wanted them to know that we weren’t lazy.

They requested more emails informing on our progress to ease their worry that we won’t make it on time.

They also suggested changing “π = 3.14” which appears on the pc screen to a more difficult mathematical problem .

In general they liked what we made. We apologised for the amount we had for them and promised to work harder. From now on we will be informing them on what is each member working as well as sending them our progress and asking for feedback.

EVALUATION

Working on this project was surprisingly really time consuming. I gained a lot of information and I had troubles deciding what is really important and how to put it all together in a desired way. But I did it.

I think that I have achieved what I wanted – it isn’t a script for an obvious learning film but a fun short film with a subtle way of selling the information, I think this way it works better. We plant the information in the audience’s heads and let them figure it out on their own (this should probably also make them feel better about them selves – they will think that they are sooo clever).

I made only 2 pages of storyboard in which among explaining what is happening I’ve placed types of the shots I am would expect while making the film. I didn’t translate the whole script in to a storyboard, because it was surprisingly time consuming and I decided that 2 pages are enough to prove my understanding of the matter.

Overall – I feel more knowledgeable now (understanding these little things can really help someone who is aiming to have a future in the film industry whether it is an animation or a regular film)

TURBO CAT – Okay, you are starting to annoy me now. You’ve been watching every single episode of Turbo Cat through the last 3 seasons. Don’t you get it yet? I AM THE GOOD GUY. Now stop hiding behind the sofa.

Mike sits back on the sofa, he is staring at Turbo Cat with his mouth wide opened. Turbo Cat positions himself on the other end of the sofa, looks at Mike and reaches with one hand towards him while saying.

TURBO CAT – Wait what? How can I look too great? Man, you make no sense. I’ve been trying hard to impress you and you…

MIKE – No, no wait, don’t get me wrong, you look awesome it’s just… You look too good for the place you are in. Look around.

Turbo Cat looks around

MIKE – See, everything in here is really boring and low detail, and you are a very high quality piece. And in this environment, the realism makes you look even more unreal.

TURBO CAT – I see what you mean now. It’s not a very good mise-en-scene. I’ll go back to my old self now.

Turbo Cat, kind of upset, changes back in to his original shadowless TV version self.

MIKE – You know, I actually believe that some things should never have a ‘makeover’. And not because they are not good enough but because it takes their charm away… But… do you mind bringing the shadows back though, they kind of suit you in this dimension.

TURBO CAT – Sure

Turbo Cat brings the shadows back, still a little bit down.

TURBO CAT – I’ve heard that it’s hard work being a toon in the real world. All the shadows, interactions and all the REAL stuff. But I didn’t realise it is so hard with CGI. You do like your things believable huh?

MIKE – Don’t get me wrong. I know you’re alive cause I’m talking to you, (unless I am crazy…) but it just feels weird if you are breaking all the rules of the real world. Then, you don’t fit in, you know? It makes you look fake. You need a golden mean.

TURBO CAT – You mean something like this?

While saying it Turbo Cat stretches his arm across the sofa and to the other side of Mike’s body, then he taps Mike on a shoulder. When Mike looks in this direction Turbo Cat’s hand slaps him repeatedly in the face. By the time when Mike goes to grab the hand it is already back in it’s place at the other side of the sofa, where Turbo Cat is heavily laughing.

Turbo Cat talks while laughing.

TURBO CAT – This was fun. I might actually stay in this world. You were so busy talking about being realistic, you’ve forgotten that I’m a cartoon. Mike, don’t you ever forget there is nothing that I can’t do that you can.

Mike, angry, is about to jump on Turbo Cat to bit him up. When the image fades and he wakes up. In the dark front room, on the sofa, in front of the TV – Turbo Cat rerun is on. Mike looks at the screen with a shine in his eyes, he is still overwhelmed with a dream. Turbo Cat just used a pawzooka.

Mike says.

MIKE – Well actually I think there is. Someone has to animate you! You might have managed to fool me for a second but it is you who is stuck in the TV, not me! You are just a caricature of life!

He gets up off the sofa and stops for a moment. The Turbo Cat cartoon continues normally. Mike finally manages to free himself from the dreamy delusions and while heading towards the kitchen door (to the right from the sofa) he says

MIKE – Oh man, I was just shouting at a cartoon character, I really gotta stop working so hard.